News & Media Articles

Tell PM Netanyahu NO to Bedouin Housing Demolitions!

Last week, Israeli bulldozers drove into the unrecognized Negev Bedouin village of al-Arakib. As the families who lived there looked on, the bulldozers razed the entire community leaving some 300 residents, including 200 children, without a home or water at the height of the summer. The Bedouin have since been stopped from rebuilding any of the razed housing.

In Israel, 93% of the land is owned by the Israeli government or quasi-governmental agencies like the Jewish National Fund. In a country with a growing population, the landscape is filled with new construction projects. With one caveat: since Israel's founding, almost every new development, town, neighborhood and even city constructed for the growing population has been reserved for Jews.

More than 50,000 Bedouin citizens live in 36 villages that are still not legally recognized by the government and lack basic services such as running water, electricity, sewage systems and paved roads. The Bedouin residents of unrecognized villages live under constant threat of home demolition with no suitable housing alternatives. As one of the first funders and partners of the Israeli Bedouin community, NIF urges you to support basic equality and justice for Israel’s poorest and most neglected population.

Take Action! Our friends at the Negev Institute of Peace and Development have put together a petition to PM Netanyahu. You can sign here. ** PLEASE NOTE: the English follows the Hebrew. ** It’s important to make your voice heard and let the Israeli government know you support fair planning for Israel’s Bedouin community.